this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2025
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Both are slightly less clunky words created from the corpse of "N-acetyl-para-aminophenol"
"Acetaminophen" takes the "acet" from "acetyl" and "aminophen" from "aminophenol".
"Paracetamol" takes the "para" part, and then a few other random letters that don't really make sence. "cet" from "acetyl", and maybe "am" from the start of "amphenol" with the "ol" ending from the same word, ignoring that it ends in "nol"?
Because it actually comes from a different chemical name for the same compound: para-acetylaminophenol
Whichever version you use, it doesn't really make sense. The para part, sure. But "cetamol"? I guess you can can smush two of the words together and go from "para-acet" to "paracet". But, the "amol" ending? It seems to be borrowing the "am" from amino, and the "ol" from the end. But, that's a weird set of letters to borrow, and weird to not borrow the full "amin" from amino and not borrow the full "enol" from phenol.